The Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca)

The Egyptian Goose is a rather long-legged goose, more similar to a duck, though, still a goose. That apart, the Aegyptian Goose is a very colourful and noisy bird. Originally, the Egyptian Goose is a native bird to the Nile Valley and the East Mediterranean and also to the African subtropics and tropics and Southeast Europe as well.

The reason why the the Egyptian Goose came to Europe was its importation from Egypt to England in the 17th century as sort of an ornamental species in the large English landscape gardens, from which it first developed into a stable population in East Anglia, where it increased in the 1970s only to spread across the Channel onto Continental Europe. In the 1977s the species was able to establish a stable population in and around Brussels (Belgium), from where it started to increase its population to the west of Europa.

The Egyptian Goose was also introduced to the United Arab Emirates and to the United States, where it continued to establish stable breeding populations.

Voice: Noisy, trompeting goose. Sounds a low-pitched "kek kek" and various husky, bleating gabbling calls.

Habitat and Range: Fresh water swamps and marshes. Introduced birds now feral in Britan, Central Europe (Germany, Czech Republic, Slowakia, Austria, Switzerland), France, parts of Spain and Portugal, Denmark.

aegyptian goose alopochen aegytptiacus birds in flight — Egyptian Geese in flight

aegyptian goose alopochen aegyptiacus — Egyptian Goose on greenland

aegyptian goose alopochen aegpytiacus feeding on green grass — Egyptian Goose feeding on green grass

egyptian goose alopochen aegyptiacus birds swimming on water — Troop of Egyptian Goose on a lake

References - Further Reading

Bauer, Hans-Günther, Bezzel, Einhard et. al. (HG), Kompendium der Vögel Mitteleuropas, Band 1, Sonderausgabe 2012, Aula Verlag, Wiebelsheim

Bauer, Hans-Günther, Bezzel, Einhard et. al. (HG), Kompendium der Vögel Mitteleuropas, Band 3, Literatur und Anhang, Aula Verlag Wiebelsheim, 2. vollständig überarbeitete Auflage 1993

Bezzel, Einhard, Kompendium der Vögel Mitteleuropas, Non-Passeriformes, Band 1, Aula Verlag Wiesbaden, 1985

Bruun/Singer/König, Der Kosmos Vogelführer, Franck'sche Verlagshandlung Stuttgart, 5. Auflage 1982

Glutz von Blotzheim, Urs et. al (HG), Handbuch der Vögel Mitteleuropas, Band 2, Anseriformes (1. Teil), Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft, Wiesbaden, 1979, Nachdruck der Auflage von 1968

Svenson, Lars et. al, Der Kosmos Vogelführer, Franck-Kosmos Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Stuttgart, 2. Auflage 2011

Uspenski, S.M. Dr. habil, Die Wildgänse Nordeurasiens, Die Neue Brehm Bücherei, Band 352, A. Ziemsen Verlag Wittenberg Lutherstadt, 1965

Bundesamt für Naturschutz: Nationaler Vogelschutzbericht 2019 gemäß Artikel 12 Vogelschutzrichtlinie, Berichtsdaten aus dem Abschnitt O...Roh Wintergäste (pdf download)